HCM City draws over 3 billion USD in foreign investment in H1
The southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City attracted 3.21 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 20 percent, according to the municipal People’s Committee.
HCM City (VNA) – The southern economichub of Ho Chi Minh City attracted 3.21 billion USD in foreign direct investment(FDI) in the first six months of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 20 percent,according to the municipal People’s Committee.
HCM City granted new investment licences to 598projects worth over 539 million USD, up 15.8 percent and 3.6 percentrespectively.
Real estate received the largest share of FDI, absorbingover 41 percent of the total capital, followed by professional activities,science and technology - 21.9 percent, wholesale and retail, repair ofautomobiles, motorbikes and other vehicles - 19.5 percent, and processing andmanufacturing industry - 5.8 percent.
In January – June, 145 existing projects wereallowed to add a combined of over 300 million USD to their investment, up 22.8percent and 81.6 percent respectively.
The city also allowed 2,307 foreign investors tocontribute capital, buy shares, and acquire stake of domestic enterprises withtotal registered capital of 2.37 billion USD.
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee Le Thanh Liem said the city has carried out trade and investmentpromotion activities since the beginning of the year, which helped reinforcetrust of domestic and foreign businesses in the local investment environment.
However, henoted that despite increases in the numbers of projects and the totalinvestment, each project is averagely valued at below one million USD.
“The projectsare at small scale. Over the past year, HCM City has yet to attract any large-scaleones,” Phong said.
Therefore, inthe coming time, the city will push ahead with administrative reforms and prioritiseselecting financially strong investors who use modern and environmentallyfriendly technologies, he added.-VNA
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
